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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25978087">Two clones at the 501st’s and a blanket</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Dear_Feather/pseuds/My_Dear_Feather'>My_Dear_Feather</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Clones’ oddly joyful relationships [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Hardcase's past, Hugging, Kissing, M/M, Scared Dogma, Sweet Hardcase, Talking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:01:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,720</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25978087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Dear_Feather/pseuds/My_Dear_Feather</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hardcase and Dogma find themselves alone in the 501st barracks and begin to talk. The discussion is going to lead them towards a sweetness that none suspected them to feel.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dogma &amp; Hardcase (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Clones’ oddly joyful relationships [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841377</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Two clones at the 501st’s and a blanket</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Wow… I would never have thought it would eat up so much energy!’ Hardcase breathed, relieved, while dropping his broom loudly on the floor.</p>
<p>The 501st’s barracks were entirely empty. All its soldiers had left their quarters in the early evening to go on party at the 79th. Only Hardcase was left, because he had burnt parts of the mess during the day for a reason he was the only one to know. So Rex had ordered him, as a light punition, to sweep the floor in the main room. As for Dogma, who had never really liked hugs, he had volunteered to help him.</p>
<p>Out of strength, Hardcase let himself fall on the ground now clean and lay without any embarrassment. Thanks to Dogma’s help, his punition hadn’t last more than half an hour, thus, when they finished, it was around 11 p.m. However, the barracks’ rare and complete silence they could hear right then had something soothing and hypnotizing. Suddenly, Hardcase no longer wanted to join the others at the 79th. He simply wanted to stay there and to enjoy this calm which is so precious in a soldier’s life.</p>
<p>Dogma ended up by dropping his broom too, but a lot more delicately, then he just looked down on Hardcase, with disgust. The clone on the floor perfectly knew that he disapproved of his attitude but gladly, he seemed too tired to emit a derogatory comment. Looking at him too, he wondered if he hadn’t something else in mind though.</p>
<p>‘Dogma’ Hardcase finally sighed with a mocking smile and giving him his hand, ‘come on, come over here, I know you want it…’</p>
<p>But the clone stayed right where he was, before him, hesitating. Hardcase raised his eyebrows in front of the tenacity with which he was renouncing to do something that simple. He didn't mean to insist in the slightest though. In truth, the clone’s stubbornness was making him laugh:</p>
<p>‘You’re not gonna tell me that ‘laying on the barracks’ floor’ is part of the manual’s prohibitions, are you?’</p>
<p>Dogma gave him a hatred look, silently meaning he wasn’t enjoying his joke, but ended up by sitting, and by laying down on the clone’s left. The floor stayed cold and hard. So he tried to put his head on his crossed arms to be more comfortable. Only then, he relaxed a bit and enjoyed the calm in their quarters during long minutes.</p>
<p>‘Why are you so obsessed with rules, protocol and orders?’ Hardcase asked after a moment of silence.</p>
<p>Dogma, who had begun to drowse, had a start. Despite all, he noticed that his tone didn’t seem provocative, nor mocking, or sharp, as if he seriously asked this question, because he wanted to understand something he deeply couldn’t sense. Dogma considered it a bit then answered on the same tone, without looking away from the ceiling:</p>
<p>‘Because it’s the only thing to which I can hold on to and which, on the battlefield, keeps me alive… Probably also because without rules, I would be lost and I would inevitably act in the wrong way. Why aren’t you?’<br/>‘Because it’s boring’ Hardcase said, yawning before continuing more seriously, ‘and also because it dehumanizes us. The more there are rules, the more I’m telling myself that we’re not considered capable of thinking and doing things on instinct… like Jedis do.’<br/>‘We aren’t Jedis’ Dogma harshly replied, ‘we’re just clones…’</p>
<p>‘You perfectly know what I meant’ Hardcase cut, turning his head towards the clone before slowly inhaling, ‘when I was a shiny… me and my team found ourselves in danger… Our sergeant directly gave us an deeply stupid order and I was the only one daring to say it. Barely two hours later, when all went wrong, I was the only surviving, because I had disobeyed the orders. My entire team, who had followed his orders and my sergeant died.’</p>
<p>Dogma swallowed with difficulty, without daring to turn his head towards Hardcase. He felt truly embarrassed by this incident and now understood why the soldier showed himself so dubitative towards some orders.</p>
<p>‘I’m sorry’ he articulated despite all, because he would have followed that sergeant’s order without any doubt.<br/>‘Don’t be’ Hardcase replied, nodding, ‘it serves them right. They should have used their brain instead of acting like common droids. And they died exactly like them, anonymous and quickly forgotten. Except by me.’</p>
<p>The abruptness in his words were proving of the difficulty he nevertheless had about accepting the death of his old team’s clones who were, after all, his childhood friends. And Dogma could very well imagine a young Hardcase, struggling to convince the others to listen to him, instead of obeying to their sergeant. And then seeing them die. All of it had certainly hardened him.</p>
<p>‘I’ve always thought following orders could only elevate me towards the highest ranks’ Dogma admitted. ‘To be honest, I often imagine myself being the one that soldiers and civilians talk about everywhere in the Galaxy. With a legendary reputation and to be proud of my actions and of my career… A bit like Rex…’</p>
<p>There was clearly jealousy and a bit of a frustrated arrogance in his voice, Hardcase could feel it. After all, Dogma had always acted as a perfect soldier: beyond reproach, loyal, his armor always clean and the determination limitless. But he was part of the 501st for only a year and Rex considered him like a solider among so many others in his battalion. He was frustrated though, that his Captain, so brilliant, couldn’t see his great potential.</p>
<p>‘Yeah but heroes usually become such after their death’ Hardcase sighed while stretching, ‘that’s the problem. This hope, even if it turns out to be true and real, you’ll never know it. What really makes you hold on in this chaos?’</p>
<p>Dogma stayed silent for a time, suddenly sad. Undeniably, he didn’t own anything, only trusted very few people and didn’t have any passion, except for respecting his honor code and his desire to leave one more day. Hardcase read the silence and understood it. He slowly straightened up in a sitting position and instantly, Dogma knew that some eyes were fixed on him.</p>
<p>‘At least, I could answer something to this question.’</p>
<p>There wasn’t necessarily arrogance or pity in his tone, but Dogma took it as such. Brusquely, he sat too and nearly spat at Hardcase’s face:<br/>‘Oh yeah, what then? Weapons? Explosives? Big fights?’</p>
<p>The clone in front of him frowned, surprised by this furious voice. He stayed silent for a moment, just enough to make Dogma realize that his reaction had been excessive and stupid, because Hardcase’s goal hadn’t been to hurt him. Then, when his face softened a bit and he lowered his eyes, Hardcase calmly answered:</p>
<p>‘My brothers. My vod. They’re always with me: when I’m not well, and when I am very well too. It’s something you’ve never tried, have you? This kind of friendship and of fraternity. I’m sure you miss it somehow… even if you don’t admit it to yourself.’</p>
<p>Dogma looked up and met the clone’s understanding gaze. He then directly took a defensive and a bit angry voice, which in itself meant the contrary of what it said:</p>
<p>‘I’m not jealous, Hardcase. Anyway, I don’t understand them… I don’t understand how clones can be so close to one another, so close to themselves, because that what makes them even more similar. I want to be unique.’<br/>‘But you already are’ the soldier answered with a particularly soft voice, ‘you’re the only ‘Dogma’ of the entire Grand Army of the Republic and the most loyal and stubborn clone I’ve ever known. I think you take these relationships in the wrong way because you’ve never tried it… Your brothers don’t make you more similar by being close to you, Dogma… On the contrary, they highlight your beautiful difference.’</p>
<p>It was some pretty words he had just pronounced without smiling. His eyes seemed worried, but most of all full of compassion. It didn’t seem like it was Hardcase talking anymore, because the gentleness in his voice didn’t look like his, or anyway, Dogma had never heard him with it before. And to be honest, he was very moved by this Hardcase.</p>
<p>‘If that’s really true’ Dogma grumbled still suspicious, ‘why didn’t you join them at the 79th as soon as we finished this drudgery?’</p>
<p>Confident, Hardcase used his hands on the ground to slide – still on his knees – until being just in front of the clone, who looked at him impassibly.</p>
<p>‘Because I wanted to be with you… my brother.’</p>
<p>This last word had an effect on Dogma and he didn’t really know if it was positive or not, but he suddenly felt very weird. A strong, new emotion, was growing inside him and frightening him. Hardcase, now right in front of him, fixed his every moves, betraying of violent emotions flying everywhere in his body, but he didn’t know what to do with it nor how to control it. Seeing that he wasn’t trying to escape, Hardcase whispered, looking at Dogma’s lowered head, too embarrassed to look up:</p>
<p>‘Is this kind of relationship forbidden by the manual?’</p>
<p>Feeling too weak to emit a single sound, the clone softly shook his head, still not wanting to raise it. Deep down, he knew – but would never admit it – that the reason he wasn’t hurriedly moving back, was that he liked this proximity, so new and possibly dangerous.</p>
<p>‘So’ Hardcase calmly concluded, ‘if I follow your reasoning, it can’t be a bad thing.’</p>
<p>Then Dogma felt the tips of Hardcase’s fingers gently lift his head – with gestures too convincing for him to resist – in order to force him to meet his gaze and the second later, their lips joined. From Hardcase’s point of view, it was a very soft kiss that he was trying to lead since the rhythm was intended to relax Dogma and above all, to incite him to feel and enjoy this intimacy which he, knew very well. He just wanted to make him discover it.</p>
<p>What he had forgotten though, was that for a beginner, the sensation echoed in the body ten times more intensely than in his. Thus, although he indeed let himself be guided by Hardcase, Dogma felt completely drowned by fear mixed with happiness. The moment seemed so intense that he thought he was gonna die from it and he was wondering every second how he could still breathe. Hardcase’s hot lips were his only contact with him and yet, he had the impression the clone was raping his personal space and was discovering all his vulnerability.</p>
<p>To sum up, the tough Dogma from the army found that almost unbearable, but the weak Dogma Hardcase was kissing felt drunk with emotions. These textures so exquisite, this so particular taste, this sweet warmth so pleasant! This too-many sensations, condensed in this instant threatened to make him pass out so much that, after a while, he couldn’t bear one more second of it and broke the kiss, slightly moving his head back.</p>
<p>Directly, Hardcase saw a panicked face in front of him, a face on which quickly appeared two tears that Dogma was trying to refrain. He was slightly shaking his head repeatedly, eyes fixed on him, but Hardcase didn’t understand his reaction until his lips were stammering:</p>
<p>‘I… can’t… I can’t do this…’</p>
<p>For a moment, he was tempted to ask a stupid ‘why’, but a second later, the answer appeared to him as an evidence, when he observed Dogma repeating ‘no’ at this intense happiness he had offered him. So he felt embarrassed by his action, ashamed as if he had just killed him and gently answered:</p>
<p>‘I understand… I maybe went a bit too far too quickly, it’s my fault… I got excited. I shouldn’t have begun with this… Sorry if I rushed you…’</p>
<p>He continued to apologize for a minute at least; before realizing Dogma wasn’t listening at all and was turning his head around him, as to look for somewhere to escape, struggling to refrain his tears and probably wondering why he had done such a thing. He seemed frustrated, ashamed, lost and panicked. Hardcase automatically interrupted and changing his tactic, gently lifted his arms towards the shaking clone:</p>
<p>‘Can I…?’</p>
<p>Dogma hesitated for a moment, then very lightly nodded, as uncertain of what he was doing. As for Hardcase, he didn’t hesitate – he had to  fix his mistake and quickly – and slowly took him in his arms, inch by inch, in case the clone would suddenly want to retreat.<br/>This time, Hardcase let him all the time to get used to the closeness and then, when he saw that he accepted it, he sealed his arms around him and tightened softly. Dogma didn’t move a muscle, letting his arms along his body, still shaking. So Hardcase finally murmured in his ear:</p>
<p>‘These things scare you, don’t they?’</p>
<p>He immediately felt Dogma nod against him and so that made him think of a child being scared of a monster. After all, this was perhaps the only logical explanation why the clone remained so distant from the others. From that moment on, he felt affection for his brother grow stronger in his heart and began to pet his back which, seeing how he bonded to him, seemed to not want to separate from his presence nor his warmth ever again. Dogma was definitely full of contradictions.</p>
<p>‘That’s it, very good’ Hardcase reassured him in his ear, ‘accept these sensations get inside you, don’t reject them… you can take me in your arms too, if you want to.’</p>
<p>Slowly, the clone’s arm raised and came around Hardcase before getting him in a so intense embrace that, for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He hadn’t been expecting Dogma to melt under his tenderness and ask for more, like a craving addict. But in truth, that was probably the case since he had never experienced love.</p>
<p>‘It’s good, isn’t it?’<br/>‘Very good’ Dogma articulated, the head now buried in his brother’s shoulder.</p>
<p>For an instant, Hardcase was tempted to admit him that all the 501st members didn’t dare to approach him because scared to be harshly rejected but, deep down, they all wanted him to be loved. All – included Hardcase – thought that a bit of affection would soften him.<br/>He would then have added that he was a handsome man and that a lot of clones regretted he was so distant. But after all, Dogma just needed someone to come to him, to take him along and to guide him in this area he knew so little and so, that scared him.</p>
<p>But when he opened his mouth to speak, he heard a sob: tiny and without any doubt unintentional. Hardcase could perfectly believe that all these new sensations were freeing Dogma to this extent but yet, he had difficulties to accept the fact that it was really this harsh and severe clone who was weakly crying against him. So Hardcase only whispered:</p>
<p>‘I know, I know… That’s a funny emotion, right? Love is the most explosive of all fuels.’</p>
<p>He didn’t know how long they stayed like this, but Dogma didn't seem to want to move anymore and Hardcase certainly wasn't going to complain about it. He could very well wait tomorrow to tell him what he and the other clones thought about him. It wasn't worth panicking the poor Dogma even more tonight. Anyway, if he wished to let Hardcase guide him in this path, this one would have all the time to tell him and to do whatever he would want. He just needed to be patient and to adapt to the total ignorance of his partner.</p>
<p>Beyond that, Hardcase was feeling a proud satisfaction invade him to the idea of having managed this exploit, when so many vod had given up long time ago. And if he had to be perfectly honest with himself, he would admit that the image of all the clones returning from the 79th and discovering them sleeping together in the middle of their great room, was driving him crazy. But Dogma didn’t need to know this.</p>
<p>‘Do you know what we need to be really good here? A blanket.’</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I personally love these too getting to know each other (they're just attracted by each other for now). Plus, the sweet Hardcase is adorable and is more interesting than just describing him as hyperactive (although he actually is). I also enjoyed writing him a tragic past, it deepens the character even more.<br/>As for the shy and anxious Dogma who realizes he can feel things he doesn’t understand yet, I’m only starting… and it’s gonna be cute…</p></blockquote></div></div>
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